One postdoctoral research associate, two PhD graduate students, and one MS graduate student in Dr. Belfield’s lab continued to synthesize several squaraine, fluorenyl, and BODIPY derivatives, including a block copolymer scaffold to use in covalently attaching chromophores.

Three PhD graduate students in Dr. Aamer Saeed’s lab at Quaid-i-Azam University continued preparing several key starting materials for the synthesis of polymers for subsequent optoelectronic characterization. This includes Ms. Madiha Irfan who is continuing her doctoral studies at Quaid-i-Azam University after spending time last year in Dr. Belfield’s laboratory. Meanwhile, Dr. Saeed established an organic materials lab at Quaid-i-Azam University and continues to develop human resources and infrastructure capacity.

Exchanges took place during this last reporting period. Dr. Saeed and Mr. Jamaluddin Mahar of Quaid-i-Azam University arrived at UCF in September. Dr. Saeed stayed for one month in which fruitful discussions of research, student progress, and joint publications took place. Mr. Jamaluddin will stay in residence at UCF for four months, conducting joint research and receiving training in advanced luminescence characterization.

Finally, two publications resulting from this project were completed during the last quarter. First, the results of ultrafast spectroscopic characterization were published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry. Moreover, the team prepared a series of fluorenyl lanthanide complexes and determined the structural and photophysical properties. These results now appear online as an ASAP publication in Dalton Transactions.  Lastly, a novel Fe (III) sensing probe was prepared and submitted for publication

The postdoctoral research associate and two PhD students in Dr. Belfield's lab at UCF continued their work preparing a series of squaraine derivatives, compounds that are useful both as dyes and as components in materials used in optoelectronic devices and solar cells. They also performed comprehensive molecular, crystallographic, and optical characterization of the materials they synthesized and conducted advanced two-photon absorption and stimulated emission depletion experiments. A paper describing the synthesis and properties of several squaraine derivatives was published in the journal Supramolecular Chemistry in 2011 and another paper is in press with the same journal in 2012. At QAU, three PhD students in Dr. Saeed's lab continue to prepare several key starting materials that will be used to synthesize polymers for subsequent optoelectronic characterization. One of Dr. Saeed's PhD students, Ms. Madiha Irfan, arrived in Orlando in March 2012 for a four-month visit to Dr. Belfield's lab. He reports that Ms. Irfan has gotten off to a good start on her training in photoluminescent and other photophysical characterization techniques. Her work with Dr. Belfield and his students is not only contributing to this joint project but also forming part of her PhD dissertation research.  

The postdoctoral research associate, two PhD students, and an undergraduate continued to synthesize compounds in a series of fluorene and squaraine derivatives and perform comprehensive molecular, crystallographic, and optical characterizations in Dr. Belfield’s lab at UCF. Over the past quarter, the team conducted several experiments and developed new characterization methodology for ultrafast dynamics photophysics. These results have been published in several journals, including ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Journal of Physical Chemistry (two papers), Supramolecular Chemistry, and ChemPhysChem. On the Pakistani side, three PhD students in Dr. Saeed’s lab continued to prepare several key starting materials for the synthesis of polymers for subsequent optoelectronic characterization. One Pakistani PhD student (Ms. Madiha Irfan) finished her four-month training in Dr. Belfield’s lab at UCF in July 2012. She worked well with Dr. Belfield’s group and conducted experiments in the synthesis and characterization of optoelectronic organic materials that will be included in her PhD dissertation. In the next few months, both sides will continue the synthesis and characterization of optoelectronic materials in their respective labs.